Politics

NAHJ (National Association of Hispanic Journalists) members Maria Elena Salinas and Ray Suarez will co-moderate this debate.

Univision Network and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions Team Up to Air Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate

Live Broadcast From Albuquerque On Sept. 4 on PBS Spanish Translated Broadcast On Sept. 6 on Univision Network

Miami, FL-- (HISPANIC PR WIRE - BUSINESS WIRE)--August 26, 2003--The first Democratic presidential candidate debate of the post-Labor Day campaign season will air live from Albuquerque on PBS on Thursday, September 4, from 8pm to 9:30pm ET (check local listings). Univision Network will air the program completely in Spanish on Saturday, September 6, from 11am to 12:30pm
ET/PT (10am to 11:30am Central/Mountain Time). This is the first in a series of six debates facilitated by the Democratic National Committee.

Co-produced by Univision Network and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, the 90-minute debate will take place at the University of New Mexico and will feature all nine of the currently announced Democratic presidential candidates: Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, Senator John Edwards, Rep. Richard Gephardt, Senator Bob Graham, Senator John Kerry, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Senator Joseph Lieberman, and Reverend Al Sharpton.

The debate will be co-moderated by Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS and Maria Elena Salinas, co-anchor of Univision Network's national nightly newscast, "Noticiero Univision." Suarez is a Washington-based correspondent responsible for conducting newsmaker interviews, studio discussions and serving as a backup anchor. Salinas is the most recognized Hispanic female journalist in the U.S.

New Mexico Governor and recently named permanent Chair of the 2004 Democratic National Convention Bill Richardson will co-host the event, along with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

A simultaneous SAP track will provide a complete, real-time Spanish translation of the English-language broadcast during PBS's airing of the program. The program is a co-production of Univision Network and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. The PBS broadcast is funded by PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Univision Communications Inc. (NYSE: UVN) is a leading U.S. Spanish-language media company. Its operations include: Univision Network, the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the U.S.; TeleFutura Network, a new 24-hour general-interest Spanish-language broadcast television network; Univision Television Group, which owns and operates 23 Univision Network television stations and 1 non-Univision television station; TeleFutura Television Group, which owns and operates 29 TeleFutura Network television stations; Galavisión, a leading Spanish-language cable network; Univision Music Group, which includes the Univision Music label,
Fonovisa Records label, and a 50% interest in Mexican based Disa Records label; and UnivisionOnline, a leading internet destination for the U.S. Hispanic community located at www.univision.com.

PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 350 public television stations. Serving nearly 100 million people each week, PBS enriches the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services on noncommercial television, the Internet and other media. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, the leading dot-org Web site on the Internet.

MacNeil/Lehrer Productions produces programming for PBS, cable and commercial broadcast network television, including "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," which airs on more than 315 local PBS stations across the U.S. MLP also produced PBS's coverage of the 2000 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, PBS "Debate Night" and PBS's coverage of the 2000 elections.
Other recent MLP productions include "Lady Bird," a one-hour profile of Lady Bird Johnson, hosted by Presidential historian Michael Beschloss; "Empire of the Bay," the history of the Hudson's Bay Company, narrated by Robin MacNeil; and David Hare's "Via Dolorosa," all of which aired on PBS; and "Shoot Not To Kill: Non-Lethal Weapons" for the Discovery Channel. MLP also produced the Emmy-nominated "Debating Our Destiny," Jim Lehrer's look at the 40-year history of Presidential debates, which aired on PBS.

CONTACT:
Univision Network, Cristina Romano, 305-463-4608
MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, Rob Flynn, 703-998-2174
Democratic National Committee, Debra DeShong, 202-863-8033

Submitted by Rudy Arredondo